Big Ten notebook: Surviving Sampson

Wednesday

Feb 27, 2008 at 12:01 AMFeb 27, 2008 at 6:43 PM

The other story on Dan Dakich’s first day as Indiana interim head coach was whether enough Hoosiers would suit up for his first game. Some players were not sure if they wanted to play Saturday at Northwestern in the wake of Kelvin Sampson’s departure. Sampson, the target of five major rules violations in an NCAA report, accepted Indiana’s $750,000 buyout and resigned Friday.

Mike Popovich

The other story on Dan Dakich’s first day as Indiana interim head coach was whether enough Hoosiers would suit up for his first game.
Some players were not sure if they wanted to play Saturday at Northwestern in the wake of Kelvin Sampson’s departure. Sampson, the target of five major rules violations in an NCAA report, accepted Indiana’s $750,000 buyout and resigned Friday.
All 13 players ultimately traveled to Northwestern, and the Hoosiers held on to win. One person who understood their initial frustration was their new coach.
“If I was a player at Indiana and the same thing happened to coach (Bob) Knight, there would have been mayhem,” said Dakich, who played for Knight at Indiana in the 1980s. “I would have been crazy. I get it.”
Six players, including senior captain D.J. White, skipped Dakich’s first practice the day he was appointed interim coach. But all 13 showed up later that night for a team walk-through.
“These are kids who had to figure out some things,” Dakich said. “When they didn’t come, we ran practice because we were going to Northwestern. But I also know the kind of kids they are and how much this season means to them. I knew they were going to be back.
“Sure enough, I started to get texts from guys saying, ‘Coach, is there a walk-through at 11? Coach, I want to sit down with you face to face. Coach, I will be there.’
“It’s hard for kids to say, ‘Hey, we lost our coach, let’s go have a good practice.’”
The turmoil surrounding Indiana’s program has not seeped to the court. Tuesday’s victory over Ohio State was the Hoosiers’ 24th of the season. They also moved into a first-place tie with Wisconsin.
“Any adult knows that when you’ve been through a lot, you’re able to handle more,” Dakich said. “These kids have been through a lot. There have been things around them all year. ... But coach Sampson did a great job of separating them from whatever was going on.
“These kids have shown they can handle things. They’ve shown they’ll play hard, they’ll play tough and they’ll fight through. That’s what we expect as we come down the stretch.”
The Home Opener
Dakich spent the previous 10 seasons as Bowling Green’s head coach. The atmosphere in his first game at Indiana’s Assembly Hall on Tuesday was a lot different than the old days at Anderson Arena.
“For 10 years I looked out a window in my office hoping that cars were pulling into the parking lot,” Dakich said. “It was different to walk out there and there were 17,000 people.”
Hoosiers fans gave Dakich a standing ovation when he walked onto the floor Tuesday. The Indiana alum appreciated the reception.
“Acknowledging people more or less is just the polite thing to do,” Dakich said. “I get embarrassed. I mean, people are clapping for me, and what do you do, put your head down?
“Nothing hard about that really. You say, ‘Thanks.’”
His Take
During his first league conference call this week, Dakich was asked who his Big Ten Player of the Year vote would go to if he had a ballot.
“I’ll take D.J. White over anybody,” Dakich said of Indiana’s 6-foot-9 forward. “I love the job he has done this year. I think he has been as good in all areas as any player I’ve ever been around.”
White averages 17.4 points and a league-leading 10.4 rebounds. He is on pace to become the first Big Ten player to average a double-double since Minnesota’s Kris Humphries during the 2003-04 season.
Milestone Win
Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo recorded his 300th career victory Saturday when the Spartans beat Iowa, 68-52. He accomplished the feat in 13 seasons.
“I’m proudest of the fact that I don’t care where you look, we never backed down on our schedule,” Izzo said. “No matter what people say, if you look around the past 12 or 13 years, it has been one of the best non-conference schedules in the country.”
Spartans sophomore forward Raymar Morgan (McKinley) was happy for his coach.
“Whenever you can make your mark in the sand and accomplish something big like that, it’s always huge,” Morgan said.
Grand Club
Wisconsin’s Brian Butch and Penn State’s Jamelle Cornley recently became the league’s sixth and seventh active 1,000-point scorers.
Butch and Cornley join White, Michigan State’s Drew Neitzel, Minnesota’s Lawrence McKenzie and Dan Coleman and Ohio State’s Jamar Butler. Prior to a season-ending injury, Penn State’s Geary Claxton was the league’s active career scorer with 1,542 points.
Illinois’ Shaun Pruitt enters Saturday’s game at Iowa 33 points short of 1,000.
Fast Breaks
- Kevin Coble scored a league-best 37 points in Northwestern’s 85-82 loss to Indiana. He shot 12-of-16 from the field, including 5-of-6 from 3-point range.
- Wisconsin has had five 20-win seasons in the last six years. Before head coach Bo Ryan’s arrived in 2001, the Badgers had four 20-win seasons in 103 years.
- Michigan State will carry a 20-game home winning streak into Sunday’s game against Indiana. The Spartans are 24-1 at the Breslin Center during the last two seasons.
Canton Repository